GeneWatch PR: GeneWatch response to the Nuffield report on forensic use of DNA

GeneWatch today welcomed the recommendations of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics on Britain's National DNA Database

"The permanent retention of DNA and police records from everyone arrested for a recordable offence is unprecedented in British history" said Dr Helen Wallace, Director of GeneWatch UK. "It gives enormous powers to governments to track individuals or their relatives using their DNA. There is also a real danger that criminals will infiltrate the system and abuse it".

The Nuffield report concludes that the recent massive expansion of the database is disproportionate to the need to tackle crime, and that further safeguards are needed to prevent misuse.

"The report is a damning indictment of Home Office statistics and the lack of evidence that expansion of the database has helped to tackle crime" said Dr Wallace.